Lauvil's manga / #Novel World(145)

Reincarnated as a side character from a novel she read in a previous life, Beadith finds herself at the princess's wedding, which marks the end of the novel. During the past seven years, Beadith lost her entire family, all the comrades she fought with in the war, and now she finds herself helplessly lost and wondering what to do, now that the plot has concluded. That night she drinks herself to sleep, but when she wakes up she suddenly finds herself thrown back in time; back to a year after her reincarnation, and before she lost everyone. However, she barely has time to process it all before she called to the palace by the imperial princess, Rosenne, who reveals that she also remember their past and will sacrifice her future love, if it means saving their country. Now, together, they must make plans on how to thwart the rebellion, save their families and stop tragedy from repeating. And it all starts with saving a certain marquis... __________________________ I am so excited about this story! It's got drama, action, romance, intrigue and badass female characters! Opposite what many other similar stories do, the ogfl is not made into an antagonist. Neither is she shallow, weak or unimportant. Instead the MC and ogfl are friends - and even though one holds greater status, they treat each other as equals. Not only that, they are the ones who drive the story forward. Love it! The ML is slightly cold in the beginning, but he has good reason to be cautious and suspicious of other people. He has a good heart and once he opens up, he treats the MC very warmly. Women in the story are also very supportive of each other. None of those annoying female antagonists who only exists so the MC will be "not like other girls". Very refreshing! Finally, this story handles a patriarchal setting exactly as I wished other stories would. I've seen stories with patriachal fantasy settings, where the mysogyny and sexism is not even addressed - or worse: romantisized. I've also seen stories where the setting it is merely used as a tool to show how strong or special she is, so she stands out from her peers - but as an exception, rather than an example. Neither is the case here. The setting has significance to the plot and the characters, but there is an underlying tone of hopefulness. That if women work together and support each other, if they fight for their goals and what they believe in, they can change the world for the better and show the way for future generations of women. It's exactly the kind of message I want to see, in the stories I read. All in all, I have almost nothing bad to say about this webtoon. 100/5 stars.

Paused somewhere between ch. 30-45 Mary, a maid of the imperial palace with no presence, is actually a reincarnator from Korea. She was reading a generic romance webnovel, where a plothole surrounding a nameless Palace maid was wildly discussed in the comments section, when she left a sympathetic comment and was then transported into the novel as that same maid. She eventually discovered that her name was Mary, though it was not easy-to-come-by information as her colleagues often forgot her and noone knew her well. In fact, for over half a year, she pretty much lives like a ghost. She does her job, and does it well, but no one knows or remembers her, and she has so little presence that people will sometimes nearly stumble over her before they notice her. One day she is called to wait on the crown prince, who briefly notices her and wonders if she's an assassin before promptly forgetting about her. Almost like a curse prevented him from remembering... But soon someone arrives, who does overlook or forget her; the emperor's younger brother, the Grand Duke of the North. The emperor who dislikes his son, but only remaining heir, calls upon the Grand Duke. An action that the crown prince interprets as a move to overthrow his position, in favour of the duke, and thus the prince begins to plot against the duke. The Duke is not so easily beaten, however, and the tension will only grow between them. Meanwhile - unwillingly exposed to secrets of these two powerful people - the presenceless maid, Mary, soon finds herself wedged into this power struggle... With only 5 chapters out it's hard to tell whether it's good, yet. But I like the premise of the mc being a person with zero presence. Judging by the cover art, the crown prince is the ML. So far he seems like a big red flag, but hopefully he'll do things that redeem him before any romance starts...

Ch. 17

Veillyn is the eldest daughter of count Orlando, and she is neglected and abused by her family. One day she falls ill and wakes up with memories of her privious life and the knowledge that the world she lives in, is inside a novel. She then also realizes that she was just a minor character whose death from an unknown desease, sparked events of the novel. Determined not to live out the rest of her days as pitifully as the novel's Veillyn, she draws up a plan to escape her abusive family by the only legal means available: Engagement. And the only eligible candidate for such an arrangement, is the third, and illegitimate, son of duke Liesentstein, Jellard, who also happens to be the obsessive male lead of the novel. So far, this seems very promising. A strong minded FL, who uses her knowledge to change her circumstances. An ML who acts cold but probably isn't. He's just become used to being shunned by others. And a mysterious desease which puts a time limit on their developing romance. Colour me intrigued! It's a bit of a cliché plot line, but honestly it's one of my favourite tropes. Love the angst and the drama. And neither of the leads seem toxic, so it passes. 4/5 stars.